Compare Prices on Liberty of the Seas Western Caribbean Cruises

Liberty of the Seas - Thanksgiving Cruise

Sail Date:
November 2010

Destination:
Western Caribbean

Embarkation:
Miami

This was my very first cruise ever. I went in with little or no expectations other than to be warmer than I was at home. We were a group of 10 with 3 kids ages 3, 6, and 15. Riding into the Port of Miami on the shuttle bus, I was awed by the sheer size of the ship. Once we got off the bus it was a bit chaotic trying to corral 10 people to get where we needed to go. But the lines went fairly quickly. We were on board the ship by 2pm. The only snafu was they couldn't find my son's seapass card so had to issue another one - about a 10 minute delay. Once on the ship, it was mild chaos trying to figure out where to go. I suggested that my smaller group go see if we could get into our room and drop off our carry-on luggage. Our rooms were ready and we proceeded to the Windjammer for lunch....too crazy and busy for my taste. Food was ok but nothing special. We then proceeded to wander around the ship just trying to get our bearings. 4 in our group of 10 are smokers so we figured out where More
the smoking areas were and went to check out the teen activities for my son who is 15.

After a nice walk around the ship (and my 2 nieces taking a dip in the kids pool area) we went and got ready for dinner. I had not received my suitcase yet so I wore what I had on since it was pretty casual that night. The dining room is beautiful and our table was easy to find with help from the staff. Joe, our waiter, and Suad, our assistant waiter, were wonderful. They learned all of our names pretty quickly and were extremely friendly and helpful.

That evening we all just worked on learning the ship and enjoying our first night at sea.

Monday was our first day at sea and it was a gorgeous one! Weather.com had predicted rain through the trip, but we had sunny skies everywhere we went. Laid out on Deck 12 and went up and down to the KidsZone pool area to touch base with the family. Discovered the casino which was very good to me the whole trip (ended up about $80 up).

Overall it was a wonderful trip on a beautiful ship. I would highly recommend it to anyone! Less

Cabin review: Liberty of the Seas Oceanview Stateroom Deck 2 2258

Port and Shore Excursions

Should I ever cruise the Western Caribbean again, I will NOT go back to this city. It is dirty. there is a lot of panhandling as soon as you walk outside the port area. Four of us chose to do the Aerial Trek. It was about an hour bus ride to the place. Our guide, David, was funny, but got way too political at times. I felt like I was getting a sales pitch for donating money to Belizians.

The zip lining experience was fun. Not worth $100/person, but still fun. We were treated to a buffet lunch after. I wanted some local fare, but got a buffet of spaghetti and hamburgers.

The a/c did not work on the bus on the one hour ride back. It was terribly hot, humid and miserable. Next time I will stay on the ship at this port.

The tendering went very quickly and smoothly which was the only plus of the day!

We docked in Costa Maya on Tuesday, November 23rd. The sun was shining and it was about 80 degrees. As a group of 10, we decided to rent golf carts for the day to get over to the beach. Quite a bit more expensive that the $3 there/$2 back cab or bus service but it offered more freedom. Went to Tequila Beach. Our particular staff member/waiter was not overly friendly or helpful. Service was slow. The weather was beautiful and everyone had a good time for the most part.

Cozumel was fantastic!! We decided with 9 of us (one went scuba diving) to do a van service vs. a taxi. Best choice! We negotiated down from $35/person to $28/person which included admission to the park (admission alone is $21/person). Plus our driver stayed with us all day and was available to us. My nieces got signed up for the dolphin swim through Javier for a discounted rate. He coordinated them getting in and out as their scheduled time was just before we needed to be back on the ship.

My son and I did the Snuba adventure with Luis. He was a wonderful guide and was very patient and showed us all sorts of cool things in the water.

The girls loved the dolphins and sea lions. Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely and Javier rocked it on getting us back on time and in one piece.

By far my favorite place on this trip! We had to get tender tickets. We, in retrospect, wish we had gotten them earlier because there were only 3 tender boats for 4200 people. So our day was shorter than anticipated.

My mom and sister opted for the Stingray City tour while the rest of us went to Royal Palms beach. I can't speak for their experience, but the beach and the people at Royal Palms were fantastic! Beautiful day, sand is like powdered sugar. Couple of the boys rented wave runners and had a blast!

Did most of my shopping here and found it to be a pleasant and easy experience.